Drone pictures show Abbey Stadium progress
Local councillor suggests another possible use for the venue
Last updated 20th Oct 2023
New pictures show the progress being made at Abbey Stadium in Blunsdon St Andrew.
And they have given the man who took them an idea.
Councillor Dan Adams is a Conservative member for St Andrews, which covers the stadium site just on the northern edge of the town near the A419.
He took the pictures with a drone that he uses.
He said: “You can see at the top of the pictures the new grandstand being put up opposite the old one. And the arches will be the pits for the speedway teams.
“I’m very pleased to see the progress that’s being made – and I think it was a very good decision by the council to give planning permission that insisted the stadium was rebuilt before more houses can be built nearby.”
Currently the stadium does not host speedway, just greyhound racing.
The Swindon Robins speedway team, UK champions as recently as 2019, have not competed in the last two seasons and are looking for a new site in the borough.
Cllr Adams said he wanted to see the team back at Abbey Stadium.
He said: “I know that Gaming International, which runs the stadium, has always greyhound racing pays the bills, but I think it’s very important to get speedway back.”
But the aerial view of the stadium has given Cllr Adams another thought.
He said: “There’s a large green area of grass in the middle of the track. I wonder if that can be used for community clubs. I’m sure you can mark a football pitch and perhaps even a cricket pitch in the centre of the track.
“My main priority would be to see speedway back, but it would be great if the stadium could be used for speedway and other sports as well as the greyhound racing.”
Gaming International which runs the stadium using the trading name StadiaUK has not yet responded to a request for comment.
It has been a long process to even get to the state of the stadium at the moment.
It took years from the initial submission of the plans for the rebuilding of the stadium to get to the decision stage, with many changes on the way, such as a market site, which was removed.
The plans were approved in late 2018 with Gaming International hoping the new stadium would be but in just a few years – but progress has been slow.